Leinster Road Race Championships 3rd July

MichealD

Leinster champs being run off as part of the Eddie Tobin RR in Bunclody, Co Wexford on Sunday week. 3 races - A1/2, A3 only and A4 only. Open to members of Leinster Clubs only (Munster/Ulster & Conn. races on same day).


http://www.slaneycyclingclub.com/?page_id=5

easygoing39

Would it be fair to say the only real climb on the course is'nt that hard??

mjpmclean

Not hard the first time, it will also depend how hard everyone else is going up it. Tough circuit.

MichealD

The hardness of the climb is in direct proportion to the speed you ride up it!

From memory there were no bunch sprints last years. Riders arriving in ones or twos or in small groups. The course is fairly selective and a good championship circuit.

Mention of course on last years thread here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=66932395

mjpmclean

Yep, we had our Co.Championships on it last year as well as the Eddie Tobin Race. The finish is extremely difficult, long & uphill. If you leave your sprint until late you will pass a lot of people who just die off near the top.

levitronix

Stick me down for it , looking forward:D

pprendeville

i'm an A4 rider. can i enter the A3 race. think i can't go back down though afterwards but not too bothered about that. like the sound of "championships".

clashextra

Any Swords riders planning on doing this? Three of us (A4) thinking of going down.

pprendeville

clashextra wrote: »

Any Swords riders planning on doing this? Three of us (A4) thinking of going down.

ya thinking of doing this alright. would like to do the A3 race maybe but not sure can I and if I do can I go back to A4 (if pace is too much for me) for future races.

clashextra

Don't think you can compete in A3 race with A4 licence and besides, if you think you're good enough for A3, why don't you just enter A4 and obliterate the field dude!
Any idea what the average speed is for this?

pprendeville

from my limited experience, i have found that there are a number of A4 riders who could easily race (maybe not win) A3 races but are just not too bothered about going up the ranks. don't think I'd obliterate the field - far from it.

on website it says following: "PLEASE NOTE There is NO Leinster Championship for A4 riders" so would like to be involved in a "championship" - sounds much more prestigous and makes for a better story to my non-cycling friends.would also just like to do a slightly longer race and see how the legs react. we did 50k in the club league at avg 39km/hr recently but probably in a larger group, speeds would be higher.

kennyb3

clashextra wrote: »

Any Swords riders planning on doing this? Three of us (A4) thinking of going down.

I ll probably add my name to that list

MichealD

I see on twitter that boardsie Ryan Sherlock was enquiring about riding the Leinsters A1 race. Should be one of the favorites on a hilly course.

ryan_sherlock

MichealD wrote: »

I see on twitter that boardsie Ryan Sherlock was enquiring about riding the Leinsters A1 race. Should be one of the favorites on a hilly course.

hehe, yeah - I'll be down to give it a go. Other than a RAS stage that was close, I have not raced down there.

Mel will be along too for the women's race - are they in with the A3s?

I had a look online - the final finish climb seems to be .5km at about 3%. Looks like a good circuit.

pprendeville

Anyone need a spin down to this? Going from Finglas.

King Kelly

ryan_sherlock wrote: »

I had a look online - the final finish climb seems to be .5km at about 3%. Looks like a good circuit.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/19439822

The final finish climb is a bit longer than it appears on this map. The finish line is actually close to the highest point on the circuit about 3kms along the elevation diagram on map my ride (and before a very fast 3 or 4 kms downhill). You probably have about 5 or 6km of a draggy uphill to the finish. All the final km and a bit more is uphill. That said, its not steep. Map my ride exagerates it. Its a big ring drag that steepens as it reachs between 500-100m to go then flattens out to the finish. Surface is very good the whole way round

The final KM is also fairly straight and you'll be almost able to see the finish from nearly 800m out. Go too early and you could die before the finish! Then again the chasers could give up!

You'll get a couple of laps to check it out before the finish anyway!

It proved a good course when we used it last year and it got a positive responce from riders. A bit deceptive. First lap doesn't seem too hard but after 2 or 3 laps the cumulative effect of the drags begins to hurt. (Obviously not if you are Ryan Sherlock or course!!)

King Kelly

The race will also roll out of Bunclody and start about a Km outside the town so theres an extra 6 or 7km s to be added to the race distance for each category.

honkjelly

clashextra wrote: »

why don't you just enter A4 and obliterate the field dude!

That was good advice cos i believe he won the a4 race! Well done pprenderville!!

kennyb3

honkjelly wrote: »

That was good advice cos i believe he won the a4 race! Well done pprenderville!!

Well done P, not surprised at all, im sure he d more than hold his own in A3 as he seemed fine hanging onto the scratchers in the club league

531

Any other results?

levitronix

honkjelly wrote: »

That was good advice cos i believe he won the a4 race! Well done pprenderville!!

Ahh thats who pprenderville is :mad:

Idleater

531 wrote: »

Any other results?

Crashing hurts

honkjelly

A1/A2 Race

• 1st Aaron Buggle, Unattached
• 2nd Damien Shaw, Mullingar,
• 3rd Stephen O’Sullivan, Dectek
• 4th Derek Cunningham, Bray
• 5th Anthony Doyle, Unattached
• 6th Craig Sweetman, Stamullen

Leinster Championships

• A1 : Gold Aaron Buggle
• Silver Damien Shaw
• Bronze Stephen O’Sullivan
• A1 Team Gold : Dectek (Stephen O’Sullivan, Fiachra O’Muire, Andrew Meehan)
• A2 : Gold Ciaran O’Conluain, UCD
• Silver Declan Byrne, Navan
• Bronze Alan Galavan, Slaney CC
• A2 Team Gold : UCD (Ciaran O’Conluain, Gavin Haberlin, Mike Brookfield)

A3 Race

• 1st Orial Carbo, Henry J Lyons.
• 2nd Alan Coyle, Shannonside
• 3rd Sean Farrell, Longford
• 4th Micheal Doyle, Barrow Wheelers
• 5th Odhran O’Caoilte, Bray Whls
• 6th Declan Byrne, Orwell

Leinster Champs

• A3 Gold Oriel Carbo
• Silver Alan Coyle
• Bronze Sean Farrell
• A3 Team Gold : Orwell Wheelers ( Declan Byrne, John Dillon, Mick McKenna)

A4 Race

• 1st Philip Prenderville, Swords,
• 2nd Barry Dunne, Orwell,
• 3rd Gerard Conlon, Comeragh
• 4th Damien Crowe, Dublin Wheelers,
• 5th Patrick Dobbs, Slaney CC
• 6th Andrew Dowse, Slaney CC

from http://www.slaneycyclingclub.com/

tawfeeredux

Well done pprenderville!

Idleater wrote: »

Crashing hurts

Not too bad i hope?

Idleater

tawfeeredux wrote: »

Well done pprenderville!

Idleater wrote: »

Crashing hurts

Not too bad i hope?

Left hip has a big bruise, bump and road rash and I managed somehow to scrape a chunk off both elbows. Quite achy now of course.

Bike is ok, haven't investigated the front shifter but it wasn't changing gear. Skewers pedal saddle and me kept damage to a minimum.

Racing accident which could've been a lot worse, but there was some maniacal over the white line overtaking by someone after car down had been called. First lap, and on the decent from the start finish so the whole race to get to the front. He squeezed in and there were some wheel touching behind, with one girl going down. I had nowhere to go (neither did she tbh) bar over. Finished on the road beside the car (thankfully stopped) with the girl and both bikes in the middle of the road with the rest of the field going past.

She was fairly shook up but was talking and went to hospital but her bike was in pretty much the same state as mine.

Thanks to the medical staff who were very swift, and scc for a well organised event, shame the commissare didn't see the overtaking, and I obviously had more important things to deal with than getting race numbers, but thanks too to the swords chap (who finished 8th) but did see what happened.

manwithaplan

pprendeville, I rang you to congratulate you earlier but I'm doing it here too. I'm delighted for you and it's great to see a win for the club. Can't wait for the write up - make sure it goes on the club website.

pprendeville

mjpmclean wrote: »

Yep, we had our Co.Championships on it last year as well as the Eddie Tobin Race. The finish is extremely difficult, long & uphill. If you leave your sprint until late you will pass a lot of people who just die off near the top.

great tip. write up in the morn - was handed a baby on my return for my endeavours and was fairly knackered and had to crash onto the couch & tired now mainly after the heat i think. delighted to win as i thought he had me but i just pipped him before the line thank God. fantastic weather today and had a few chats with some very nice people so thoroughly enjoyable day. hope the crashers are ok. heard a bang but saw nothing when i turned round. couple of times when i could have gone myself (and maybe caused others to go - sorry). would have preferred a brown envelope to a trophy but cant complain. need a Swords jersey next.

pprendeville

Taking manwithaplan's line here and saying life starts at 30 (for a cyclist anyway). My birthday coming up in just over a week so this was an unexpected early present.

Headed down to Bunclody in beautiful sunshine yesterday morning. For once I arrived in good time so had plenty of time to sign on, get the bike prepped for the race and get in a good warmup. Saw a few Swords lads which always raises the spirits. Unfortunately I have been too tight to buy the club kit as of yet so I don’t think they recognised me but anyway the spirits were raised to see familiar faces.

Had adjusted the front derailleur on Sat night and it was shifting really smoothly so was happy with the bike. However, as I was removing the dust cap to pump the back tire it exploded and I just had the one spare tube. Took that out and realised the valve was too short for the pump to catch so had to rush around (couldn’t find Swords guys at this stage) and get one from a Slaney CC member. There’s always something that will go wrong. Forgot my HR strap as well so my pre-race prep was gone out the window. Did manage a 15 minute warm up though and headed off towards the start line.

As usual in any A4 race I’ve participated in the pace was much slower than the swords league, not that I was complaining. We went through the neutralised section and off we went up the long drag. I didn’t find it half as tough as any time up The Nag’s Head. Fairly constant gradient of about 4% with a few flats and downhills whereas Nags Head is steep in parts and more deceiving I think. On one of the downhill sections I thought I heard a bike crash behind me. Apparently a girl and a fella went down and she went to hospital. Please God she’s ok.

Got talking to Pat Dobbs of Slaney CC and gathered that he was an A2 rider last year, was a personal trainer and had previously done the RAS so my plan was to go with him if he was in any breaks or to stay on his wheel towards the end. The first lap ½ lap was fairly pedestrian with Pat putting in a few turns at the front. Having forgot my HR I decided to go to the front on the way back into Slaney and pick up the speed. I felt that this would benefit me later in the race as I would have an idea of what my legs were like. Put in 5-10k at the front and it felt just like the league except with nobody coming through despite me flicking the elbow several times. Slowed down before the climb second time round and let somebody else take over the pace setting.

Pace was a little faster up this time which suited me. I think the whole bunch stayed together for the rest of the lap and it was only on the return and the sharp left hand turn to go back up the hill that people started getting eager to be close to the front. Having read a great tip on boards about delaying the sprint til near the end I decided to use this tactic. Just managed to get round the bend as I was nearly pushed onto the ditch and headed up towards the front remembering not to get boxed in on the left. Not having a HR strap, I was using a perceived rate of exertion in my head to judge my effort and I felt good but I didn’t go right to the front. Just held my ground and waited to see if anyone would go. On the last downhill some guys tyre exploded. Thought it was a shotgun going off for a minute. Some nervy moments here with a few riders trying to make up ground. I asked Pat how he was feeling and he wasn’t saying much so that put paid waiting for him to go. Then all of a sudden the finish line was in view. I gave a quick glance over my shoulder and saw blue and orange and just knew it was of the Clarke brothers from Swords. He had won the bunch sprint on the last Bog of The Ring circuit so I knew he would be a good wheel to follow. Just as I thought this away he went and I duly followed. It was lucky nobody was following him or I probably wouldn’t have made as much ground. I’m not 100% sure of what happened next but there was just the Orwell rider ahead of me and the line was getting closer. I was in the big ring but not generating enough power but didn’t want to risk changing down front or back (had read Dan Martin had problems with his gearing in the uphill finish in Monaghan) so I kept ploughing away. Luckily he faded about 10m from the line. It was quite similar to an epic battle I had with RAAM for 11 place (I got 12th) on The Nags Head a few weeks back in which he caught me a few 100m from the line and strolled past me so that eperience stood to me. Made it over the line and now I know why riders raise their hands when they win. Great feeling and was delighted with myself. I must say, the last night out in the league was hugely beneficial to me trying to keep up with some A1/2 riders. I think by staying a group where you’re comfortable in the league will not allow you to progress as much as if you go to a harder group and push yourself. Think there are about 5 or 6 who could make the jump to group 4.

Went back to the GAA grounds and had a lovely hot shower and there were even ice baths there which reminded me on my hurling days with Na Fianna so I jumped in for a 2 x 1 minutes. These work great for muscle recuperation in my opinion. Went into the church and said a quick prayer to thank the Man above and then went down to the hotel and got a bit of the Cork Kerry game before heading into the awards room. Met a couple of Finglas Ravens lads. Apparently, one of their riders who didn’t have a CI license was allowed enter the A3 race on a 1 day license. He came 2nd but they wouldn’t give him any prize. I got a nice trophy for my efforts.

Just like to say thanks to RAAM and Laura for sticking around to take pictures of the presentation. Was a great race with 99% of the roads in excellent condition. The marshalling was good and the tea and sandwiches were nice as well. Well done as well to Damien Crowe from Dublin Wheelers on his 4th place despite telling me he wasn’t feeling great from the start. Hope they put up a few pics of the A4 race on the Slaney CC website.

Quote of the day re my water bottle: "Better to be looking at it than to be looking for it". By God was I delighted I brougha 2nd one with me it was so hot.

Raam

An A2 rider from last year rode the A4 race? Howzat?

pprendeville

Raam wrote: »

An A2 rider from last year rode the A4 race? Howzat?

He said he was A2 last year so I presumed he must have been laid off due to injury and came back in A4. That allowed?

How many points are awared for an A4 win and how many are needed to go up to A3?

Raam

pprendeville wrote: »

He said he was A2 last year so I presumed he must have been laid off due to injury and came back in A4. That allowed?

I've no idea at all, I'm just curious really.

tawfeeredux

pprendeville wrote: »

How many points are awared for an A4 win and how many are needed to go up to A3?

6 points for a win, you need 10 to be upgraded to A3. Or you can just upgrade yourself if you like.

Lumen

Raam wrote: »

I've no idea at all, I'm just curious really.

As I read it, when A4 was created it was to include S3 riders who had scored no points in the preceeding two years. I assume this rule has been carried forward so that an S3->A3 rider with no points in 09 or 10 could drop down to A4 for 2011 without special exemption

I would have thought that downgrading from A2 to A4 in one year, points or no points, ought to require permission from the prov. or national grading officers.

Idleater

pprendeville wrote: »

On one of the downhill sections I thought I heard a bike crash behind me. Apparently a girl and a fella went down and she went to hospital. Please God she’s ok.

First off Congrats! I admired the confidence in celebrating before the line but you did well!

That was my crash detailed above, I haven't heard but I presume the girl from longford cc is ok.

MichealD

Raam wrote: »

An A2 rider from last year rode the A4 race? Howzat?

Pat Dobbs WAS an A2 rider buts it several years ago. Had an A3 licence and rode the Gorey 3 day every year up to a few years ago. Don't think hes had a licence for last couple of years and I see he was on a one day yesterday.

Classy rider. Spoke to him at the finish and hes planning to race a few more local races this year and try to come back next year.

Just watching the race most of the A4s seemed to be riding around to the sprint on the hill. A1/2s seemed to attacking each other all the time but nothing seem to stick. 4 laps looked plenty in that heat - neary stuck to road with melting tar at finish!

levitronix

I went on the attack the first time up the hill with rob from bray and one other but it didnt stick and after that it looked like nobody was will to risk it.

pprendeville

levitronix wrote: »

I went on the attack the first time up the hill with rob from bray and one other but it didnt stick and after that it looked like nobody was will to risk it.

will have to join forces with you next time as it makes the race much more interesting.

pprendeville

Idleater wrote: »

First off Congrats! I admired the confidence in celebrating before the line but you did well!

That was my crash detailed above, I haven't heard but I presume the girl from longford cc is ok.

hope you're not too badly cut up. were ye going fast? amazing only 2 fell as people were fairly close together.

Keep_Her_Lit

pprendeville wrote: »

Headed down to Bunclody in beautiful sunshine yesterday morning ...

I judge race reports based on their effect on my HR. Great report, that did the trick! Congrats on the win.

Idleater

pprendeville wrote: »

hope you're not too badly cut up. were ye going fast? amazing only 2 fell as people were fairly close together.

It was about 50kmph when we hit the ground and I ended up right beside the car that had stopped with the girl right in the middle of the road and the bunch managed somehow to avoid us and the bikes!

I don't know how I got away so lightly but I'll be getting a couple of days Tour watching in.

Garmin data here but the speed has been acting up of late :rolleyes:

levitronix

pprendeville wrote: »

will have to join forces with you next time as it makes the race much more interesting.

Thats fine once next time i beat you by a wheel and roar yes in your ear , because from 500m's to go i thought it was mine i looked on my left and had a few bikes clear but you where coming on right from now where, didnt even hear you haha till you shouted !! haha
Was a great race to win with a real gilbert style finish fair play

King Kelly

pprendeville wrote: »

......... would have preferred a brown envelope to a trophy but cant complain. need a Swords jersey next.

Don't know - you look fairly pleased with trophy here! http://pix.ie/liamr/2413762/in/album/414765

Marshalling so got to take very few pictures. Uploaded a few pics of A3 last lap & finish of A3 & A1/2 to my pix site. http://pix.ie/LiamR

pprendeville

Idleater wrote: »

It was about 50kmph when we hit the ground and I ended up right beside the car that had stopped with the girl right in the middle of the road and the bunch managed somehow to avoid us and the bikes!

I don't know how I got away so lightly but I'll be getting a couple of days Tour watching in.

Garmin data here but the speed has been acting up of late :rolleyes:

boys you're lucky, both of you after coming off at that speed.

i'd say your Garmin got the bulk of the damage going by the stats. 189kmhr top speed. either that or you had some serious energy drink in you.

pprendeville

levitronix wrote: »

Thats fine once next time i beat you by a wheel and roar yes in your ear , because from 500m's to go i thought it was mine i looked on my left and had a few bikes clear but you where coming on right from now where, didnt even hear you haha till you shouted !! haha
Was a great race to win with a real gilbert style finish fair play

was wondering what the angry face was for?

sorry i didn't mean to tick you off by shouting - I just didn't think I'd catch you and was delighted when i did. i remember playing tennis when i was young and i was always shouting for the wrong reasons when losing but yesterday was the right reasons. had a bit of temperamental issues which have since been addressed but need to be released now and again and shouting helps.

it was a great finish i thought but i thought not many made breaks and when they did the bunch were only interested in catching them and then stalling again. i suppose if i had the legs i'd make more efforts, i.e. make a break get caught and then go again. Like Paddy Doran's advice:

JUMPS

Jumping/attacking from the bunch getting a bit of a gap and then beginning to say a prayer that you will be caught soon as your legs are starting to hurt, is a jump!

ATTACKS

An attack is getting a gap and driving hard to open the gap preferably with other riders. This hurts particularly in the early kilometres as you strive to open the gap and others are chasing behind.

PERSISTANCE

This is where persistence determination and aggression plays a big part on the attackers part,. The attacking group should keep the pressure on until the chasing group catches them or the gap opens out. Then the pace only needs to be the same as the group behind to hold the gap. When going at full flight even a 50 metre gap is very difficult to close so if the breakaway keep riding at high speed sharing the pace only the stronger riders will get up to them.

Might try some jumping in the next race early on and see what happens.

doedoe

well done on taking that advice on the finish p had spotted that aswell, perfect timing.....was enjoying this race until some fella from epic mtb didnt bother calling that storm drain with about 1km to go, three of us hit it hard and all damaged wheels making it expensive day out, not surprised there was a crash too much messing going on in A4s passing out and squeezing through gaps when nobodys going anywhere in a hurry....hope anyone that crashed is ok. good circuit and well organised and the hot showers were a welcome surprise

easygoing39

doedoe wrote: »

well done on taking that advice on the finish p had spotted that aswell, perfect timing.....was enjoying this race until some fella from epic mtb didnt bother calling that storm drain with about 1km to go, three of us hit it hard and all damaged wheels making it expensive day out, not surprised there was a crash too much messing going on in A4s passing out and squeezing through gaps when nobodys going anywhere in a hurry....hope anyone that crashed is ok. good circuit and well organised and the hot showers were a welcome surprise

So you've been up the hill 2 times already,there's 50 riders in the group,and you single out 1 rider to blame for not calling the drain??Not too mention that with 1km to go 99% of riders are only thinking about the final sprint,and no one calls out at this stage!! I was a bit wary of the mtb'ers when they started to turn up for road races back in March,but from what Ive seen they have ridden well and safe.They even have gotten a few place points and had a team in the Gorey,plus Ive never heard or read any race reports that mentioned dangerous riding from them.I know there's some that look down on mtbers,but as long as they continue to ride in a safe way,whats the problem??Sure even Ryan Sherlock race's mtb's,yet is also a well respected road man!!

nomadic

easygoing39 wrote: »

So you've been up the hill 2 times already,there's 50 riders in the group,and you single out 1 rider to blame for not calling the drain??Not too mention that with 1km to go 99% of riders are only thinking about the final sprint,and no one calls out at this stage!! I was a bit wary of the mtb'ers when they started to turn up for road races back in March,but from what Ive seen they have ridden well and safe.They even have gotten a few place points and had a team in the Gorey,plus Ive never heard or read any race reports that mentioned dangerous riding from them.I know there's some that look down on mtbers,but as long as they continue to ride in a safe way,whats the problem??Sure even Ryan Sherlock race's mtb's,yet is also a well respected road man!!

What do you mean them/they? Surely you mean us

levitronix

Havent been able to find any pics from the A4 race is there any knocking around ?

C3PO

doedoe wrote: »

.....was enjoying this race until some fella from epic mtb didnt bother calling that storm drain with about 1km to go ....

Had it appeared since the previous two times you'd passed it? Hardly fair to blame another rider because you hit a drain - As one of the Epic guys who've done a few road races this year I know we're all conscious of the reputation that mountain bikers have in road races but frankly I've seen some pretty hairy riding so far and none of it from our lads!
Now if I could just hang on long enough to be around the group at the finish ....!

spokeydokey

<TdF spoiler removed>

doedoe

easygoing39 wrote: »

So you've been up the hill 2 times already,there's 50 riders in the group,and you single out 1 rider to blame for not calling the drain??Not too mention that with 1km to go 99% of riders are only thinking about the final sprint,and no one calls out at this stage!! I was a bit wary of the mtb'ers when they started to turn up for road races back in March,but from what Ive seen they have ridden well and safe.They even have gotten a few place points and had a team in the Gorey,plus Ive never heard or read any race reports that mentioned dangerous riding from them.I know there's some that look down on mtbers,but as long as they continue to ride in a safe way,whats the problem??Sure even Ryan Sherlock race's mtb's,yet is also a well respected road man!!

hold on a second dont be tryin to stir s**t, i know plenty of epic lads and they are a nice bunch of lads and i never questioned their riding at all but someone swerved around a hole that was easy to call, three lads hit and almost went down. Theres an onus on us all when cycling in a large bunch to call out any danger on the road but if thats not ur style of riding then remind me not to sit on ur wheel